Space offered to encourage businesses to share ideas
EIGHT Dunedin businesses have got on board with an initiative to each have a desk and collaborate in one of the city’s shared working spaces.
The project — named bizCOlab — was started by Petridish cofounders Jason and Kat Lindsey and will involve Startup Dunedin, the Dunedin City Council, the Callaghan Institute, the Otago Chamber of Commerce, the Southern Maori business network KUMA, the Otago Southland Employers’ Association, Senior Entrepreneurs and Otago Polytechnic.
The Lindseys hoped that by offering the space to the various organisations they would be able to grow business networking across the city.
They had had the idea for a few years and Mrs Lindsey said ‘‘the timing has never been quite right until now’’, citing the disruption caused by Covid19.
There had been an ‘‘enthusiastic response’’ from all parties invited to take part.
Petridish head of culture Liesel Mitchell said she hoped the initiative would help increase resilience in businesses across the city during a time of economic uncertainty.
‘‘We hope that by facilitating a space where collaboration can happen easily, it will enable great ideas, fasttrack action plans and grow new and existing networks.’’